1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a centering strip for plugging onto a backplane printed circuit board, and in particular, to a centering strip having a housing opening on one side for acceptance of plugs and also having for the acceptance of contact blades through openings in a floor of the centering strip.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
It is known to provide ends of centering strips with flanges in order to secure the centering strips to subracks by means of these flanges. When the centering strips serve, for example, for the acceptance of one or more cable plugs, considerable pressure forces may occur when the cable plugs are plugged into the centering strip. This can lead to damage of the centering strip or to individual contact blades. This problem particularly arises when cable plugs must be plugged into the middle part of the centering strip. Another problem occurs when cable plugs do not extend over the full length of the centering strip. Since backplane printed circuit boards are equipped with a continuous series of contact blades, it is possible that the cable plugs may be plugged into an incorrect section of the centering strip.
Typical examples of prior art backplane printed circuit boards having contact blades and cable plugs are disclosed in Swiss Patent No. 607,542 and European published patent application 0,123,590, herein incorporated by reference. FIG. 1 of the Swiss patent shows the contact blades as element 11 in FIG. 1. The European published patent application in FIG. 9 shows a typical cable plug having keys 14.